Our Action and Research in 2012

This year the RSA has made headlines through the wide-ranging work of our Action and Research Centre.

We have many more publications planned for next year on education, manufacturing, enterprise, public service change and many other areas but here is a snapshot of a few of our publications in 2012:

Fiscal Fallout, a joint report with the Social Market Foundation published last month, revealed that the Government’s plans to reduce the deficit will require £48 billion of additional spending cuts.

In the second half of the report, we set out our approach to meeting this challenge, arguing for what Ben Lucas, RSA Chair of Public Services, calls “a radical new approach based on social productivity which moves away from Whitehall towards local-based collaboration, integration and shared services”.

You can find out more about the RSA’s programme of work on public service reform on the 2020 Public Services Hub website.

Generation Enterprise

Our September report on Generation Enterprise argued that a profound shift in how we do business will empower a new generation of young entrepreneurs. In the report, RSA Director of Programme Adam Lent argues that this new entrepreneurial spirit is driven by the growing ability of consumers to create value for themselves, citing examples such as the rise of the interactive web and low-cost 3D printing technology.

The report was published to coincide with the first of a series of workshops exploring the challenges facing young entrepreneurs. We have been developing this work in partnership with RBS Group through Inspiring Enterprise.

Classroom Experiment

How can schools become centres of research and development? Carey Oppenheim poses this question in Classroom Experiment, the first of our Frontline Voices podcasts from educational practitioners.

A teacher at Quintin Kynaston school in Westminster, Oppenheim explores radical ideas around school organisation, the role of the teacher and our examination system.

And more…

Our Social Brain Centre led a project on behaviour change and policing, which you can read about in their report Reflexive Coppers.  A new report on Business, Society and Public Services from the 2020 Public Services Hub set out a new way of understanding how to think about public services in a climate of fiscal restraint.  And our Great Recovery project set out to examine how we can reduce waste through better design.

With lots more publications to come in 2013, you can stay informed about the RSA’s work to combine rigorous research and analysis with practical action by subscribing to the ARC newsletter.